CYBERSPACE — Adult content searches for “Game of Thrones” character Arya Stark, and for Maisie Williams, the 22-year-old actress who portrays her, have surged since last Sunday’s episode, xHamster reports.
The episode in question, the second of the 8th and final season for HBO’s medieval fantasy blockbuster tentpole, featured a sex scene between Ned Stark’s youngest daughter and strapping blacksmith and royal bastard Gendry.
Writing about the sexual encounter for CNN, Holly Thomas described the scene in salacious detail:
“In the scene, Arya first asks Gendry about his sexual experience (he's had sex with three women), then expresses her desire to have sex. She kisses him, takes his top off, pushes him onto some kind of sack, then orders him to ‘take your own bloody pants off.’ It's a powerful and refreshing piece of character development for Arya, but -- judging by the reaction of many viewers -- it also bears the weight of gendered expectations around virginity and sex on-screen, which we would do well to be rid of.”
Tube site xHamster reported that searches about the nubile, shapeshifting warrior have soared, as if borne on the back of majestic dragons.
“Winter isn't the only one coming!" said Alex Hawkins, VP of xHamster. "Following Sunday's controversial sex scene on Game of Thrones, searches for Maisie Williams and Anya Stark, surged 1846% and 4646% respectively."
xHamster provided the following graph — its title a dubious pun on the noble House entrusted with the protection of the North — as evidence of mounting erotic interest in Arya’s eager abandonment of maidenhood:
